Whitman second-hand shop gets computer tracking system

Created by a former Rockland detective, the tracking database is one way that law enforcement in the Brockton area combat criminals who attempt to unload stolen merchandise at pawn shops and junk dealers.

WHITMAN – For years, Mitch Farber kept exhaustive paper sales records for his antique shop. The paperwork filled dozens of binders and lined the walls of his office.

Now, with a new laptop and software provided by the Whitman police, Mitch’s Antiques on Temple Street has joined a computer system in use by dozens of police departments throughout southeastern Massachusetts to track the sale and purchase of gold, silver, jewelry and other valuables.

Created by a former Rockland detective, the tracking database is one way that law enforcement in the Brockton area combat criminals who attempt to unload stolen merchandise at pawn shops and junk dealers. For the departments that are part of the system, it lends some consistency to an industry regulated by a patchwork of local and state laws.

“It’s easier for him and easier for us,” Detective Sgt. Joseph Bombardier said of Mitch’s joining the program. “He’s doing really good with it.”

Mitch’s junk dealers license was among those renewed by the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday night. Town Administrator Frank Lynam said use of the tracking system is a condition of Mitch’s license, and that the implementation came together quickly after the publication last month of an article in The Enterprise about the pawn shop industry that highlighted the shop.

Farber said he still keeps paper receipts for his own records. At the end of the day, he makes sure all sales are recorded in the computer database, making them available immediately to detectives who may be following up on a break-in or shoplifting.

“It’s a little easier, less copying work,” Farber said. “They got what they need. If they need the stuff, they got the stuff.”

Whitman requires junk dealers like Mitch’s to hold certain items, like jewelry and precious metals, for 30 days before resale. Mitch’s is the only shop in town with the tracking system condition on its license, Bombardier said.

Other junk dealers in Whitman do not currently purchase or sell the kind of valuables tracked by the system, Bombardier said.

Recently a couple shops that could have been regulated closed, and the department keeps an eye on the others to see if the selectmen should consider adding the condition.

“We’re not going to burden anybody with this if they don’t buy and sell gold, silver, jewelry, tools – things that this pawn shop database is specifically targeting,” Bombardier said. “If I find out they are, then they may have to get on the program. We’re not singling anyone out.”